‘Ignore ICAR ex-DG report on GM crops’
An activist, who has filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging the use of genetically modified crops, has filed an affidavit before it saying that the court should accept the final report of its technical expert committee while “ignoring” any findings by its member and former DG of Indian Council of Agriculture Research R.S. Paroda, alleging that he had “conflict of interest” on the issue.
The affidavit filed by activist Aruna Rodrigues, who had sought a complete moratorium on field trial of GMO, said the final report and documents by the expert committee (TEC) recommended no field trials till regulatory gaps are addressed as there have been serious shortcomings in the GMO regulatory process.
The affidavit, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, said the TEC in their “covering letter” to their final report indicated that Mr Paroda was not present to sign it on June 30, 2013, nor did he give a dissenting note. Further, it said TEC enclosed Mr Paroda’s contribution separately. “That document enclosed with the Report shows that the overall conclusion of his (Paroda’s) analysis is that ‘confined’ field trials and their regulation should simply be under the purview of the regulators to decide the outcome,” the affidavit said. The anti-GMO activist said the affidavit was being filed to provide evidence that “the apex court’s mandate of independence as a regulatory objective and specifically in the context of its TEC has been breached” with Mr Paroda’s induction.
Post new comment